Published: April 11, 2008 10:57 am            

Bukta: This was a busy and impressive week

As the session nears its end, major pieces of legislation are making their way through the process and down to the Governor’s office.

Early this week, the House and Senate sent the Governor House File 2212, a bill creating a statewide smoking ban. The Governor is planning to sign the bill into law next week.

This landmark legislation will make smoking illegal almost everywhere in Iowa, protecting most workers and citizens from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains 63 chemicals that cause cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases. It kills 440 nonsmokers in Iowa every year.

The nearly 115,000 food service workers in Iowa have a 50 percent greater chance of dying from lung cancer than the general population because of their exposure to secondhand smoke.

The bill bans smoking in bars, restaurants and outdoor arenas. Among the few exemptions to the ban are the gaming floor of casinos, and specified areas of the Iowa Veterans Home.

School infrastructure

Over 10 years ago, the General Assembly approved legislation allowing voters to pass a local option sales tax to be used for school infrastructure and property tax relief. It soon became clear that there were inequities in this law. Retail rich large counties raised a great deal of money, not only from residents in their own county, but also from all Iowa residents who shop in the bigger cities. On the other hand, property poor districts raised very little money. To correct this problem, the Legislature has created a statewide pool that will distribute money to all districts on a per pupil basis. However, the large counties had already passed their local option sales taxes and could not be included in the pool until their current taxes expired.

Now that these taxes are close to expiring, there is concern that the large counties would not renew their local option sales taxes, leaving them with no infrastructure money and the pool with little resources. House File 2663, passed this week and now headed to the Senate, is aimed at solving this problem and creating statewide equity.

A statewide sales tax will replace the local option sales taxes. By 2014, all the money will go into the pool. It will then be redistributed on a more equitable per pupil basis. This will end the current inequity where some school districts receive over $1,396 per pupil while other districts receive only $575. In addition, a special fund is created which will provide more than $207 million in property tax relief over the next six years.

Please feel free to contact me at (515) 281-3221 or 242-6603, by fax at (515) 281-5868 or by e-mail to polly.bukta@legis.state.ia.us.



Rep. Polly Bukta, D-Clinton, has been a member of the Iowa House of Representatives since 1997. She represents District 26, which covers part of Clinton County.

        

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